I'm a bleach person but when I tried using fleece I discovered vinegar works WAY better. (I hate the smell of vinegar but can tolerate bleach - go figure.)

For smells on things - like rugs - use Nature's Miracle. It is expensive but gets out the smell. You have to SOAK the spot and let it sit, but it works.

If you decide to go with disposable pads, instead of purchasing the puppy pads, get the human ones. They are less expensive and you can cut them to fit the cage. The drugstores here usually have a sale once/month with the deal buy one, get the second one half off. Plus if you have a FSA (Flexible Spending Account - medical) account, the disposable pads is an eligible item if one of your listed members need them- cough, cough, not that I would know anything about that.

I do not have the money to buy materials at the moment (don't worry about emergencies. I had a plan because I was hired at a job, but they kept putting my orientation off until I decided I had enough of being pushed around a month later. I can get the money for materials in a few months but my parents agreed to pay for any emergencies that may happen and I'll pay them back once I receive my first paycheck if something bad happens). For now, I've read that you can litter train guinea pigs. I figured this can be a good solution to the rest of the smell which I don't think is anything wrong with them, I think it's because they use the bathroom in mainly two spots and it just builds up, plus they have recently been drinking excessive amounts of water which makes them pee more. I figured even though potty training them is supposed to be really hard and is not 100%, it could definitely help in the long run especially since they already keep going in mostly those two spots. It would be much easier to convince my mom that fleece won't be bad after (which I already wash and soak in vinegar and thoroughly rinse). I also clean the cage in vinegar since Nature's Miracle did nothing for the smell of my gerbils when I had them and I use puppy pads which I change out daily in the most peed in spots. Does anyone have advice or opinions on potty training?

You can train yourself and ease part of the problem. You find the places where they tend to pee and poop the most, usually where they eat and sleep. Put litter pans there, and that will catch a lot of the output IF you've got cooperative pigs. If not, you're out of luck.

But you also have to be very careful of them sleeping in those places too much or not cleaning them enough, and the pigs getting urinary tract infections from sleeping in the waste.

I just wanted to add...is it possible your mom smells the normal smells of hay and pellets and veggies and guinea pig and this is the "bad odor" she's concerned with? You seem very responsible, perhaps you could chat with her sometime when no one is upset and you've just cleaned the cage and show her what all the different smells are to try to determine what she's smelling. You could be fighting a losing battle if it's not really a "bad" smell, just the normal smells of a GP. I would also suggest buying a plug in air freshener for the hallway right outside your door so she smells THAT all the time and not the GPs in your room!

I have wood pellets under my fleece. both my piggies are young so I can go 5-6 days pretty easily without a bad odor. But I do clean up poop twice/day and I lift up the fleece and remove the pee spot pellets every 3 days. I noticed that the poop smells bad so I make a point to keep that under control.

I'll talk to my mom about the smell and she already has a air freshener in about every room except mine. I think she's just sensitive to smells. Just in case it is the hay and pellets is there a type of hay that doesn't have such a strong smell? I was feeding them orchard grass and now since one is pregnant I mix orchard and alfalfa. Also I can't have Timothy hay in my room because I am HIGHLY allergic so if there is one other than Timothy with low smell please let me know! Thank you so much

How about trying cut grass hay for horses. It is regular hay, but dust free, cut in pieces few centimetres long, and sold in large bags. When kept in the original packaging, it produces very little smell. The downside is: first: relatively short lenght of fibers, and second: an average bag is 20 kg. Nevertheless, it is very tasty (I suppose, the taste varies with the manufacturer) and guinea pigs enjoy it very much.

Kimera, the short pieces that the stems are cut into have nothing to do with the long strand fibers that guinea pigs need. There are many fibers in a strand of hay, and it's those smaller fibers that are important.

It is possible that the smell is not from the fleece at all but coming from hay that has been pooed and peed on. You may have to give smaller portions of hay but remove and replace it more often. I always offered hay in kitty litter pans lined with wood stove pellets. It's amazing how well wood stove pellets soak up liquids and keep down odors (and they are cheap!). Hay was always removed and replaced every evening and every morning.

Another thing that causes odors is the poos themselves. A cleanup with hand brush and dustpan several times a day may do the trick.

One other thing might cause odor if you are using it...vitamin additives to the water. If you are adding anything to the water, you can discontinue this as it is not needed if guinea pigs are offered daily fresh veggies.

My pigs do not have added vitimans in there water, there cage is cleaned 3-4 times daily and I currently have their hay hanging. Any that falls I sweep up when I see it. Also I am feeding Oxbow Alfalfa(pregnant piggie) which has a mix of mostly long and a few small leafy pieces of hay. I have my own horse and horse hay is almost always Timothy hay because it provides the most nutrients for the horse and tends to be a little cheaper depending where you get it. I am very, very allergic to "horse hay" so I cannot give it to my pigs anyways since they are housed in my room

Fleece cage liners with u-haul pads (two layers inside) are what I have been using. Then I just use paper litter on one end where they eat & drink. I change out the fleece once a week (they don't pee on it much) and when I wash, I add straight vinegar to the fabric softener compartment. Does the trick, no smell at all!